i24NEWS reports:
The Lebanese Shiite Hezbollah militant group has recruited in recent months villagers residing in the Syrian Golan Heights to carry out preparations and intelligence gathering for operations on the border with Israel, the army revealed in a statement released early Wednesday morning.
According to Israel Defense Forces (IDF), the sophisticated and carefully planned project is not yet operational, but the Hezbollah recruits who receive monthly wages have engaged in reconnaissance efforts and are equipped with anti-tank missiles, explosives, machine guns and others arms.
‘Hezbollah, which has already established its presence in southern Syria as the southern command to advise and train the Assad regime in fighting the rebels, is losing legitimacy and its palpable influence in the region,’ explained an intelligence source in the Northern Command.
The operation known as the Golan File has been kept a secret from Syrian President Bashar Assad, according to Israeli intelligence sources, but its policy in Gaza regarding Hamas, the IDF says it still holds his regime accountable for any activity targeting the Jewish state.
‘We hold the Syrian regime responsible for anything that happens inside Syria aimed at Israel,’ said Israeli military spokesman, Lieutenant Colonel Jonathan Conricus.
The IDF report says that Hezbollah planned to entrench itself in the Syrian Golan as early as 2013, the same time that President Assad announced developing the area to advance a popular resistance against Israel.
Now the Hezbollah-commanded Shiites are seeking to establish observation posts against Israel on Syrian soil as part of the larger terror project.
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